MST3K 311 - It Conquered the World
The Short Synopsis A Sport Parade newsreel focuses on winter sports and activities. The fun includes ice skating, ice yachting, dog sledding, polar bear swimming, skiing (pronounced "schiing"), cross-country "schiing", ice fishing, "schi" jumping, "schi" joring (pronounced "horing"), and bobsledding. Information The Movie Synopsis Dr. Tom Anderson (Lee Van Cleef) is a brilliant but prickly physicist. Once the head of the "Perpetual Missile Project", he has fallen out of favor, but he has a ham radio with which he is in contact with intelligent entities from Venus. Tom is disgusted with mankind's amoral behavior and is convinced that the solution is to remove man's messy emotions, with the assistance of the alien. Tom's wife (Beverly Garland) is loyal to her husband but won't go along with his plans. He guides one of the Venusians to Earth with the aid of a satellite that was recently put into orbit by his old friend, fellow space scientist Paul Nelson (Peter Graves). The alien takes up residence in a nearby cave, causes all electro-mechanical devices to stop working, and sends out flying bat-like creatures to implant mind control devices in key humans. Taking over human society requires measures that eventually persuade Anderson to reconsider his alliance with the alien. Nelson's unwillingness to cooperate is also a factor. The screenplay contains the line "...man is a feeling creature, and because of it,'' the greatest in the universe."'' Information * Monster-builder Paul Blaisdell originally crafted the monster as a short, dense thing because of Venus’ heavier gravity, but soon found that a two-foot-high alien invader wasn’t very intimidating – especially after Beverly Garland laughed at it and knocked it over with a single kick. So he added a three-foot tall conical head. Unfortunately, that only managed to make it look sillier (and more pickle-like). * Paul Blaisdell, who designed, built and portrayed the alien in the movie, affectionately dubbed his creation "Beluah". It is easily the most popular monster of Blaisdell's oeuvre among his fans as well. * Although usually referred to as a being a "cucumber" or another vegetable by fans, "Beluah" is actually supposed to be a fungus. * Among the numerous names the crew gave the monster were the Tee-Pee Terror, The Cucumber Critter, and the Carrot Monster. * Cult favorite actor Dick Miller (who is probably best known for his work in Gremlins) appears as Sgt. Neil. Miller also appeared in Gunslinger and The Undead, which were both directed and produced by Roger Corman. * The little bat-like creatures that the monster uses to control people would be re-used in Roger Corman's next film, The Undead. * Shot in five days. * In 1956, American International released this film on a double bill with The She-Creature (1956). * Peggie Castle was originally cast as Joan Nelson, but had to pull out of the project shortly before filming began. She was replaced by Sally Fraser, who did it as a favor for director Roger Corman, a friend, even though she was five months pregnant at the time. * Was nominated in The Golden Turkey Awards series for Most Laughable Concept for an Outer Space Invader. It lost to ''The Creeping Terror''. The Episode Host Segments Prologue: Joel attempts to use Crow as a ventriloquist dummy to get on to Star Search. Segment One (Invention Exchange): Crow and Joel switch roles, the Mads create instant hanged men costumes, and Joel demonstrates the Sony Seaman which imitates the soothing sounds of the ocean. Segment Two: Joel and the Bots do their own version of the winter sports seen in the short. Segment Three: The gang do their own extra-bitter version of the coffee scene from the film. Segment Four: Based on confusion over the relation of James Arness and Peter Graves, Joel and the Bots sing the "Celebrity Siblings Song". Segment Five: The crew and the Mads watch Peter Graves' stirring end speech from It Conquered the World and read letters. Stinger: "He learned almost too late that man is a feeling creature..." Notes *'Unusual credits': Peter Graves' speech from the end of the film is played instead of "Mighty Science Theater". *First Roger Corman film featured on the show. *The closing repetition of the speech can be explained by Joel’s earlier admission that the movie was a bit short that week. *This is one of the episodes affected by the glut of Penn Jillette voiceover promos, which was played over the end credits in spite of the repetition of Peter Graves' speech. * This episode aired fifteenth and last during Turkey Day '91, and ninth during Turkey Day '94. Callbacks * "That’s not half bad!" "She’s givin’ it back to you!" (a paraphrase from ''The Side Hackers'') * "Chili peppers burn his gut." (The Side Hackers) * "Thong? Ator? Puma?" (''Cave Dwellers'' and ''Ring of Terror'') Obscure References *''"Hardcastle and McCormick!"'' Hardcastle and McCormick was a TV series from the mid-1980s. *''"It's the 'Agony of Defeat' audition!"'' A reference to the opening credits sequence from Wide World of Sports, in which the narrator mentions "the agony of defeat" over footage of a ski jumping accident. *''"It's the Sled of the SubGenius!"'' A reference to the satirical pseudo-religious movement the Church of the SubGenius, whose "prophet" is named J.R. "Bob" Dobbs. *''"Say, whose line is that, anyway?"'' Referencing the improv comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway? ''which was also broadcast on Comedy Central. *"I'll paint any car for $49.99!"'' Earl Scheib Paint & Body promised to paint "any car, any color, for $amount, no ups, no extras." The quality was questionable. *''"James Arness will return in Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song!"'' A reference to the "James Bond will return in..." taglines that frequently appear during the closing credits of James Bond movies, and to the blaxploitation film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. *''"Barney. Paris. They'll help me."'' Peter Graves, who plays Dr. Nelson in the movie, performed the role of Jim Phelps in the original ''Mission: Impossible'' TV series. Barney and Paris were members of Phelps' IMF team from the show, played by Greg Morris and Leonard Nimoy respectively. "He learned almost too late that man is a feeling creature..." Video releases A home video release of this episode is not currently forthcoming. However, the host segments are available on the Satellite Dishes disc included in Volume XXXIX. Category:MST3K Episodes Category:Season 3 Category:Episodes with shorts Category:Unreleased Episodes Category:Mystery Science Theater Hour Episodes Category:James Bond spoofs Category:Unrated movies Category:1950s movies